Once upon a time there was a
dear little girl who was loved by every one who looked at her, but most
of all by her grandmother, and there was nothing that she would not
have given to the child. Once she gave her a little cap of red velvet,
which suited her so well that she would never wear anything else. So
she was always called Little Red Riding Hood.

One day her mother said to her, "Come,
Little Red Riding Hood, here is a piece of cake and a little bottle
of wine. Take them to your grandmother, she is ill and weak, and they
will do her good. Set out before it gets hot, and when you are going,
walk nicely and quietly and do not run off the path, or you may fall
and break the bottle, and then your grandmother will get nothing. And
when you go into her room, don't forget to say, good-morning, and don't
peep into every corner before you do it."

I will take great care, said Little
Red Riding Hood to her mother, and gave her hand on it.

The grandmother lived out in the wood,
half a league from the village, and just as Little Red Riding Hood entered
the wood, a wolf met her. Little Red Riding Hood did not know what a
wicked creature he was, and was not at all afraid of him.

"Good-day, Little Red Riding Hood,"
said he.

"Thank you kindly, wolf."

"Whither away so early, Little Red
Riding Hood?"

"To my grandmother's."

"What have you got in your apron?"

"Cake and wine. Yesterday was baking-day,
so poor sick grandmother is to have something good, to make her stronger."

"Where does your grandmother live,
Little Red Riding Hood?"

"A good quarter of a league farther
on in the wood. Her house stands under the three large oak-trees, the
nut-trees are just below. You surely must know it," replied Little Red
Riding Hood.

The wolf thought to himself, "What
a tender young creature. What a nice plump mouthful, she will be better
to eat than the old woman. I must act craftily, so as to catch both."
So he walked for a short time by the side of Little Red Riding Hood,
and then he said, "see Little Red Riding Hood, how pretty the flowers
are about here. Why do you not look round. I believe, too, that you
do not hear how sweetly the little birds are singing. You walk gravely
along as if you were going to school, while everything else out here
in the wood is merry."

Little Red Riding Hood raised her eyes,
and when she saw the sunbeams dancing here and there through the trees,
and pretty flowers growing everywhere, she thought, suppose I take grandmother
a fresh nosegay. That would please her too. It is so early in the day
that I shall still get there in good time. And so she ran from the path
into the wood to look for flowers. And whenever she had picked one,
she fancied that she saw a still prettier one farther on, and ran after
it, and so got deeper and deeper into the wood.

Meanwhile the wolf ran straight to
the grandmother's house and knocked at the door.

"Who is there?"

"Little Red Riding Hood," replied the
wolf. "She is bringing cake and wine. Open the door."

"Lift the latch," called out the grandmother,
"I am too weak, and cannot get up."

The wolf lifted the latch, the door
sprang open, and without saying a word he went straight to the grandmother's
bed, and devoured her. Then he put on her clothes, dressed himself in
her cap, laid himself in bed and drew the curtains.

Little Red Riding Hood, however, had
been running about picking flowers, and when she had gathered so many
that she could carry no more, she remembered her grandmother, and set
out on the way to her.

She was surprised to find the cottage-door
standing open, and when she went into the room, she had such a strange
feeling that she said to herself, oh dear, how uneasy I feel to-day,
and at other times I like being with grandmother so much.

She called out, "Good morning," but
received no answer. So she went to the bed and drew back the curtains.
There lay her grandmother with her cap pulled far over her face, and
looking very strange.

"Oh, grandmother," she said, "what
big ears you have."

"The better to hear you with, my child,"
was the reply.

"But, grandmother, what big eyes you
have," she said.

"The better to see you with, my dear."

"But, grandmother, what large hands
you have."

"The better to hug you with."

"Oh, but, grandmother, what a terrible
big mouth you have."

"The better to eat you with."

And scarcely had the wolf said this,
than with one bound he was out of bed and swallowed up Little Red Riding
Hood.

When the wolf had appeased his appetite,
he lay down again in the bed, fell asleep and began to snore very loud.
The huntsman was just passing the house, and thought to himself, how
the old woman is snoring. I must just see if she wants anything.

So he went into the room, and when
he came to the bed, he saw that the wolf was lying in it. "Do I find
you here, you old sinner," said he. "I have long sought you."

Then just as he was going to fire at
him, it occurred to him that the wolf might have devoured the grandmother,
and that she might still be saved, so he did not fire, but took a pair
of scissors, and began to cut open the stomach of the sleeping wolf.

When he had made two snips, he saw
the Little Red Riding Hood shining, and then he made two snips more,
and the little girl sprang out, crying, "Ah, how frightened I have been.
How dark it was inside the wolf."

And after that the aged grandmother
came out alive also, but scarcely able to breathe. Little Red Riding
Hood, however, quickly fetched great stones with which they filled the
wolf's belly, and when he awoke, he wanted to run away, but the stones
were so heavy that he collapsed at once, and fell dead.

Then all three were delighted. The
huntsman drew off the wolf's skin and went home with it. The grandmother
ate the cake and drank the wine which Little Red Riding Hood had brought,
and revived, but Little Red Riding Hood thought to herself, as long
as I live, I will never by myself leave the path, to run into the wood,
when my mother has forbidden me to do so.

It is also related that once when Little
Red Riding Hood was again taking cakes to the old grandmother, another
wolf spoke to her, and tried to entice her from the path. Little Red
Riding Hood, however, was on her guard, and went straight forward on
her way, and told her grandmother that she had met the wolf, and that
he had said good-morning to her, but with such a wicked look in his
eyes, that if they had not been on the public road she was certain he
would have eaten her up. "Well," said the grandmother, "we will shut
the door, that he may not come in."

Soon afterwards the wolf knocked, and
cried, "open the door, grandmother, I am Little Red Riding Hood, and
am bringing you some cakes."

But they did not speak, or open the
door, so the grey-beard stole twice or thrice round the house, and at
last jumped on the roof, intending to wait until Little Red Riding Hood
went home in the evening, and then to steal after her and devour her
in the darkness. But the grandmother saw what was in his thoughts. In
front of the house was a great stone trough, so she said to the child,
take the pail, Little Red Riding Hood. I made some sausages yesterday,
so carry the water in which I boiled them to the trough. Little Red
Riding Hood carried until the great trough was quite full. Then the
smell of the sausages reached the wolf, and he sniffed and peeped down,
and at last stretched out his neck so far that he could no longer keep
his footing and began to slip, and slipped down from the roof straight
into the great trough, and was drowned. But Little Red Riding Hood went
joyously home, and no one ever did anything to harm her again.

THE END

MY
REAL LIFE HAPPY ENDING

I've
wanted to be a writer since I was six. I put a story I wrote online, and
in it the kids put on a play of "Rumplestiltskin." So
many children wrote to me asking where they could read the real story
that I put it online. Then they asked about other fairy tales, so I put
them up too.

And
so many kids wrote to me saying they loved my story that
it was published as a book! It's about a spunky American girl who goes
to an English boarding school.

"Little Red Riding Hood" is here on the Web because of Blow
Out the Moon, a true story about an American girl (me!) who goes to
an English boarding school. So many young readers wrote to me asking where
they could read the story that I put it on my Web site.

You
can get Blow Out the Moon,
in libraries, some bookstores, and online
at amazon.

The
paperback will be out in May, 2006!

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD

ONCE upon a time there
lived in a certain village a little country girl, the prettiest creature
was ever seen. Her mother was excessively fond of her; and her grandmother
doted on her still more. This good woman had made for her a little red
riding-hood; which became the girl so extremely well that everybody called
her Little Red Riding-Hood.

One day her mother,
having made some custards, said to her:

"Go, my dear, and see
how thy grandmamma does, for I hear she has been very ill; carry her a
custard, and this little pot of butter."

Little Red Riding-Hood
set out immediately to go to her grandmother, who lived in another village.

As she was going through
the wood, she met with Gaffer Wolf, who had a very great mind to eat her
up, but he dared not, because of some faggot-makers hard by in the forest.
He asked her whither she was going. The poor child, who did not know that
it was dangerous to stay and hear a wolf talk, said to him:

"I am going to see my
grandmamma and carry her a custard and a little pot of butter from my
mamma."

"Does she live far off?"
said the Wolf.

"Oh! ay," answered Little
Red Riding-Hood; "it is beyond that mill you see there, at the first house
in the village."

"Well," said the Wolf,
"and I'll go and see her too. I'll go this way and you go that, and we
shall see who will be there soonest."

The Wolf began to run
as fast as he could, taking the
nearest way, and the little girl went by that farthest about, diverting
herself in gathering nuts, running after butterflies, and making nosegays
of such little flowers as she met with. The Wolf was not long before he
got to the old woman's house. He knocked at the door -- tap, tap.

"Who's there?"

"Your grandchild, Little
Red Riding-Hood," replied the Wolf, counterfeiting her voice; "who has
brought you a custard and a little pot of butter sent you by mamma."

The good grandmother,
who was in bed, because she was somewhat ill, cried out

"Pull the bobbin, and
the latch will go up."

The Wolf pulled the
bobbin, and the door opened, and then presently he fell upon the good
woman and ate her up in a moment, for it was above three days that he
had not touched a bit. He then shut the door and went into the grandmother's
bed, expecting Little Red Riding- Hood, who came some time afterward and
knocked at the door -- tap, tap.

"Who's there?"

Little Red Riding-Hood,
hearing the big voice of the Wolf, was at first afraid; but believing
her grandmother had got a cold and was hoarse, answered:

" 'Tis your grandchild,
Little Red Riding-Hood, who has brought you a custard and a little pot
of butter mamma sends you."

The Wolf cried out to
her, softening his voice as much as he could:

"Pull the bobbin, and
the latch will go up."

Little Red Riding-Hood
pulled the bobbin, and the door opened.

The Wolf, seeing her
come in, said to her, hiding himself under the bed-clothes:

"Put the custard and
the little pot of butter upon the stool, and come and lie down with me."

Little Red Riding-Hood
undressed herself and went into bed, where, being greatly amazed to see
how her grandmother looked in her night-clothes, she said to her:

"Grandmamma, what great
arms you have got!"

"That is the better
to hug thee, my dear."

"Grandmamma, what great
legs you have got!"

"That is to run the
better, my child."

"Grandmamma, what great
ears you have got!"

"That is to hear the
better, my child."

"Grandmamma, what great
eyes you have got!"

"It is to see the better,
my child."

"Grandmamma, what great
teeth you have got!"

"That is to eat thee
up."

And, saying these words,
this wicked wolf fell upon Little Red Riding-Hood, and ate her all up.

THE END

A
note from the author:

This Web site also has a book about an American girl who goes
to boarding school in England. (Before she does that, she and her friends put
on a play of Rumplestiltskin, which is how this story got up here: so many kids
wrote to me asking me where they could read it that I put it on my Web site
-- and then they asked for other good stories so I put this up, too.)Chapter One of Blow
Out the Moon(now a published book
because so many people wrote to me about it!)

You can also get the book at your library, a bookstore, or order
it from barnesandnoble,
amazon.
If your bookstore or library doesn't have it they can order it for you.

If you got to this page from reading the chapter about the play,
I'm glad you like the book so far and I hope you keep reading!